Method of extracting manganese from its ores.



"ore is liable to too violent a reaction.-

Therefore, the alu'minothermic reduction permits of no conclusion as regards the ap-" nmtrnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRIEDRICH IIEUSLER, OF DILLENBUB G, GERMANY.

ianrnonor n'xmac'rrne MANGANESE mom rrs ones.

No Drawing.

; To all whom it may concern:

doctor of philosophy, chemist, resldmg at No. 9 Hohl, Dillon u have invented new and useful Improvements in the Method of Extracting Manganese from Its Ores, of which the following 1s a specification.

The present invention relates to an 1mproved method of producing metallic manganese with the aid of carbonlferous reducin agents. i ,7

lhe hitherto known method of producing metallic manganese according to Tamm consists of melting manganese ores with carboniferous reducing agents, such as soot, oil or the like, in the presence of a suitable flux in a graphite crucible. This process proceeds from t e manganese ore. Experiments have sho, n, however, that the output obtained with this method can' essen; tially be increased if a portion of the manganese ore. is calcined at red-heat prior to ess a part of the oxygenescapes and by applying a suitable temperature during a sufficiently long eriod a product'is obtained which essential y corresponds' to the formula Mn O When mixing the calciined mangaa mixture for reducing purposes is obtained which contains more manganese than if uncalcined manganese ore is used. It 'is a striking fact that a mixture of crude and 85 calcined manganese ore with soot, oil or a simlar reducing agent, 'to'which eventually those observed with Tamms method of re-' duction. In the aluminothermic proceeding the preliminary reduction of the manganese-ore to ,alower stage of oxidation is necessa for the reason that the manganese I plicability of the calcined manganeseore to the method accordin to Tamm,-all the less since, according to t e present invention, a

rg, German Emp1re,-'

the processof reduction. During this procfrom without.

nese ore-with ground crude manganese ore a mixture of manganic oxid and manganese Be itknown that I, FRIEDRICH HEUSLER,

ore is subjected to the reduction, contrary to nese-is treated by itself. Experiments have shown that the proceeding according to the present invention offers an output of manganese whlch exceeds that obtained with the method according to Tamm by about 30% and still more. Moreover, in the alminothermic proceedlng the employment is known of a mixture of oxids of manganese With a low, and of oxid of manganesewith a high, pro ortion of oxygen, for the purpose of acce crating the speed ofreaction in the aluminothermic reduction of manganic oxids with low percentage of oxygen. The greater output obtained thereby is due to the. fact that the reaction mass 1s prevented from being cooled, which is a property of the aluminothermic proceeding, wherein the heat is supplied b question cannot be taken into. consideration, as in this case.the' reaction mass is heated Contrary to the method according to Tamm, no increase of the reaction-speed is obtained with the new method.

As compared with the aluminothermic proceeding the method according to the present invention permits to charge the reaction space available with a greater quantity of manganese. seen that this could be attained by the employment of manganic oxids of low percent: age of oxygen, the reduction of which offers more difliculties and a lower output than the manganic' oxids having a. high percentage of oxygen. By adding manganic oxids to the manganese ore according to the present invention an output is obtained which amounts to 90% of the theoretical. The

ever, it, is preferably not below 20% for manganese ore and therefore not above 80% formanganic oxid. The new method has the further advantage that the calcined Specification of Letters Patent, P t t 11, 1913 Application filed Harch 19, 19.12. Serial No. 684,911.

the reactionitself. In the process of re action with carbon this It was not to be fore- I proportion of quantities may vary; how

manganese ore can be separated from its admixture of iron by magnetic treatment.

The calcining process may be increased by the action of reducing gases, such as petroleum-gas or water-gas.

The proceeding may, by wa of example, be carried through in the following manner, which is found to'give the best results: parts of ground crude manganese ore and 50 parts of calcined manganese ore are mixed with a flux anda carboniferous substance, such as soot or oil. The compound is then heatedin a graphite crucible to as high a temperature as ossible preferably by means of a blower. nstead of a graphite crucible any other suitable vessel of fire-proof material may be employed, and instead of the blower an electric furnace may equally well serve.

Now what I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patentin the United States, is-

l. The hereindescribed method of ex: tracting metallic manganese from its ores which consists in first preliminarily'calcining a portion of the manganese ore at a red heat, then proportionately mixing together a quantity of the calcined ore with a quantity of crude uncalcined ore, and subsequently subjecting this mixture to a reducing process.

2. The hereindescribed method of extracting metallic manganese from its ores which consists in first preliminarily calcining a ortion of the manganese ore at a red heat, t en proportionately mixing together a quantity of the calcined ore with a quantity of crude 'uncalcined ore, and subsequently subtcting this mixture to a reducing rocess in t e presence of a flux and a carbomferous agent.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses:

FRIEDRICH HEUSLER. 

